NFL QB Market to Heat Up in Offseason

With the beginning of a new NFL offseason set to kick off in less than two months with the NFL Combine & Draft, there are a few teams searching for a new face to lead their offense.

There is no shortage of options out there this year. So while it’s great to know exactly who will be under center for your team next season, the current crop of names between free agency, potential trades, & the draft prospects is one of the best there has been in years, in my opinion.

With names such as Teddy Bridgewater, Nick Foles, Dwayne Haskins, & Kyler Murray available for the right price or pick, those teams finding themselves without a starting QB won’t stay that way for long if they can land one of these guys.

One team who started the off season on the list of looking for new QBs, the Denver Broncos, found their new leading man after dealing for Super Bowl winning QB Joe Flacco from Baltimore.

Of course this list all depends on how sold certain teams’ new coaches (not on this list) are on their current QB situation such as Arizona, Tampa Bay, Cincinnati, & Oakland.

From what has been said since the end of the season, all of those teams look to be sticking with their current players for now. But as we know, coaches love going out to get their hand picked guy for their system, so anything can happen.

So with those teams also out of the market for now, that only leaves a hand full of teams still searching.

Here is where I think the top names floating around will end up.

New York Giants

Let’s just get this out of the way now: an aging Eli Manning just isn’t going to cut it anymore. He’s been on the decline for a few years now, but he was at least able to get you 6-7 wins and keep you in games. But that Eli is long gone, and now it’s time to move forward. I expect for them to let Eli play out the final year of his contract and draft their QB of the future early in the first round. They currently hold the 6th overall pick and the way the current draft order looks, New York should be the first team to take a QB, assuming there are no trades or shocking picks before them.

New QB: Draft Dwayne Haskins

Jacksonville Jaguars

Well, after yet another year of watching Blake Bordles struggle to live up to expectations as the leader of the offense in Jacksonville, it appears the team is finally ready to admit he’s not the guy. After giving him a contract extension for helping “lead” the team to the AFC title game last season, he took a huge step backwards and even was benched for a few games due to poor play. While it’s easy for Jacksonville to look in their division at how well their rivals have drafted at the position, I think their best bet is to go get a veteran player who can come in and lead this team from day one. After watching Deshaun Watson and Andrew Luck have the kind of years they did, the Jaguars don’t have time to let a young guy mature and grow if they still intend to win now.

New QB: Sign Nick Foles

Miami Dolphins

FOXBORO, MA – SEPTEMBER 18: Ryan Tannehill #17 of the Miami Dolphins runs with the ball during the first half against the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium on September 18, 2016 in Foxboro, Massachusetts. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)

Ryan Tannehill has all the physical tools to be a very good NFL quarterback. We’ve seen flashes of what he can do when he’s healthy and has weapons around him. The issue is, he’s hardly ever healthy and when he is, he’s most often struggling. Miami is looking to start fresh with their new head coach Brian Flores and presumably a new signal caller under center as well. They’re currently set to pick in the middle of the 1st round at 13, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see them jump up via trade to get their guy. They don’t necessarily have the same pressure to win now like the Jaguars or Giants do, so they could go that route, but I can also see them bringing in a veteran to compete similar to what the Browns did. Regardless of what they do, they don’t want to fall behind division foes the Bills and Jets who drafted their franchise QBs last year.

Alex Smith is still recovering from the gruesome leg injury he sustained halfway through this past season, and the team that started off pretty hot never looked quite the same. Colt McCoy clearly isn’t the guy to lead your team through the season if you expect to compete, and that’s the reason he’s been looked at as a backup QB for the majority of his career. Washington isn’t the most flashy or sexy team by any means, but with the right player leading them they can be competent and could compete for a wild card spot, if not win the constantly shaky NFC East. I think they’ll more than like go for a veteran guy, and then try to get a QB later in the draft of day two or three.